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There is a new fight brewing over a recent report from ABI Research, which claimed that Intel's most powerful "Clover Trail+" System on a Chip (SoC) for mobile devices is a better performer than ARM-based chips from Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Samsung, even while using significantly less power.

In early June, the research firm published the results of benchmark testing that pitted a Lenovo K900 smartphone powered by a dual-core, 2-GHz Atom Z2580 and featuring Intel's XMM6360 modem chipset against this quartet of rival Android handsets featuring ARM-based processors:

ABI Research reported that for its CPU test, Intel's x86-based, Clover Trail+ chipset was only challenged in terms of performance by the Samsung Exynos Octa and the Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064T, with the Atom Z2580 scoring a 5,547, the Exynos Octa scoring a 5,277, and the APQ8064T scoring a 5,378. The Exynos 5250 scored a 3,104 on the CPU test while Nvidia's Tegra 3 scored a 2,886.

Significantly, the ABI Research benchmarkers found that Intel's Atom Z2580 CPU used a lot less power to match its two closest rivals on performance, "with only 0.85A of average current versus 1.38A for the Samsung Exynos Octa and 1.79A for the Qualcomm APQ8064T."

Benchmarking of other chipset functions, including RAM, display, 2D and 3D graphics, etc., produced similar results, according to ABI Research. In almost all cases, either the Intel chipset easily bested the competition on pure performance or matched it while beating rival chips on current consumption.

If so, these results could prove very significant. If Intel's top Clover Trail+ products are matching the most powerful ARM-based SoCs available in performance while also providing longer battery life, we may soon see a major shift in the power structure of the market for smartphone chips.

And just wait until Intel releases its even more advanced, 22-nanometer "Bay Trail" products with a 64-bit instruction set later this year, right?

Not so fast, say some interested observers who this week published criticisms of the ABI Research report. Jeff Bier of BDTI and Jim McGregor of TIRIAS Research both had some nits to pick with the ABI Research team's methodology, starting with a failure to identify the benchmarking tools used for its testing.

Damon Poeter got his start in journalism working for the English-language daily newspaper The Nation in Bangkok, Thailand. He covered everything from local news to sports and entertainment before settling on technology in the mid-2000s. Prior to joining PCMag, Damon worked at CRN and the Gilroy Dispatch. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle and Japan Times, among other newspapers and periodicals.
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